The five pegasi only stayed for about one minute as they unloaded a portion of their ammo and supplies for us. They were one of the resupply teams who were helping make sure the front lines were stocked with ammo, grenades, water, whatever else we were using up for combat. Then off they went, taking off with speed into the air, not too high though so they stayed out of sight from any potential Changelings, and went onto the next squad that had called in for resupply.

“Make sure the supplies are distributed to everypony as seen fit.” S.Sgt. Jaume said.

He along with Nihal helped distribute everything so everypony was replenished with ammo or whatever they needed. It was just our squad now, the other squad we had been with had split off to cover the main road. We were still on the alleyway/side road and only some buildings kept us separated from each other but they weren’t directly with us for any engagements.

It had been only about twenty minutes since Ilja was shot and in that time we had witnessed the death of the squad medic of the other team, the deer who had taken charge. The Changelings had attacked our position at the time with what seemed like twenty bugs, we held them off for a little while before more joined in and started pushing hard enough to make us all fall back. That happened about five minutes after Ilja was shot. Thankfully, no one else has died since then. Then we split.

“Hey Jurek!” Nihal finally got to me, “I got some ammo for your MG here, how much of it do you wanna carry yourself?”

“Three quarters of what you got is enough!” I took my focus off from aiming down the alley to respond.

Nihal brought over the amount I asked for and I took the moment to stash it away in my pack, while putting two small belts wrapped around my mane for quick access.

“What about the rest?”

“Fuck, uhh, Ilja carried my extra, so uhh… HEY LUIZ! You got room to carry some ammo for me?” I shouted to him.

“I got room, but not a lot!” He responded back from the other opposite side of where we were.

“‘Ight, give the rest to him then.” I said normally.

Nihal went right to moving, staying in cover as he got to Luiz where he gave him his own supplies and the ammo I directed towards him. I went back to aiming down the alleyway.

Then I heard the radio on S.Sgt. Jaume’s back go off and he stopped for a moment to listen in.

“...All ponies between streets Arch Boulevard to Twilight Road are to fall back! I repeat; All ponies between the streets of Arch Boulevard and Twilight Road are to fall back to the edge of the city! I repeat; Fallback to the edge of the city! We’re about to be surrounded in the city and cut off from any escape! … Over!”

The S.Sgt was close to me supplying Rostislav so I was able to hear the announcement. He immediately shouted out, “Alright ponies! Listen up! We’re being ordered to fall back to the edge of town. The Changelings are about to encircle us so we’re being pulled out before that happens!”

Kettle and Samira both looked at the S.Sgt with bewildered looks and Tuuli yelled out from the other side of where we were, “NOW!? What about any remaining civilians! We’re just going to leave them?” She seemed to be furious at the announcement, “Ask them how long we got so we can check for civilians in that time while we retreat!”

A few others seemed mad and pissed off at the announcement when Jaume yelled out, “I didn’t make the damn announcement, it was to all ponies in the city, we just gotta listen to the damn orders. Any civilian not out at this point is dumber than a pack of Diamond Dogs!” How smart even were diamond dogs? I have no clue.

“They’re probably scared! They’re not soldiers like us; they’re probably hiding in fear!” Tuuli yelled out.

“Dammit! We don’t have time to fucking argue! Luiz! Nihal! Pop spokes down the alleyway! Rostislav! Shoot a grenade as far down as you can! Jurek! Give a good two second spray when the spokes up! After that we’re hoofing it faster than a damn deer to the fallback line! Ready!?”

Tuuli seemed upset but she stopped trying to talk to Jaume and calmed herself down. Rostislav was already aiming his gun with a grenade at the end, ready to shoot it to whatever distance he could as Luiz and Nihal were getting set to toss the smokes. I was at the ready to shoot anything as Rostislav shot the grenade off. At the gunshot, Luiz and Nihal tossed both the smokes at once and then the explosion happened down the alleyway.

Everypony but me and Jaume were aimed down the alleyway for a about six seconds before I decided to let loose the two second burst.

BABABABABABABABABABABABABANG!

“Fuckin’, let’s go!” Jaume yelled to the few who were still behind cover. The rest had already started galloping away as we joined in.

It took us about 11 minutes while going at a somewhat fast paced gallop to make it to where the fallback line would be. Should be. I have no clue, we definitely weren’t in the city anymore, the buildings were a lot more spaced out and a lot more trees were present around.

“Fuck. Me.” I breathed heavily as we got to a relatively safe spot. Everypony else was also breathing heavily, grunting, panting, whatever they could do to relax their bodies as the gallop began to take a toll on everypony about halfway through. It didn’t help that we had just been resupplied either.

“FUUUCK!” Nihal yelled out as he collapsed on the ground after stopping, taking deep breaths, “That was fucking worse than our week-long training exercises.”

“It aint worse than being killed in slow and guaranteed death.” Samira said stopping next to Nihal and also collapsing for a moment.

Jaume seemed to be the least effected by the retreat, “Just catch your breaths and be at the ready in case any Changelings show up. Also don’t forget the phrase to yell if you see another squad come by!”

There was a phrase for identifying us from the Changelings. It became a thing after Olenia’s collapse back in 1010 when word came about of how many Changelings would infiltrate the deer’s military bases, front lines, whatever they could get their hoofs in. We change it regularly and currently it was ‘Six-point five queen.’ Thankfully every time we ran into another group or pony who wasn’t a civilian, we initiated the phrase, they always came out as being real, at least I hope they were. If they didn’t, we would have most likely had to gun them down, which I hope I never have to do in fear of them turning out to be actual ponies.

We rested up for a few minutes, some of us taking swings at our canteens, the rest who weren’t on watch for anything that came into view. Then Jaume’s radio started again and he listened in. A few others as well.

“All poni-- New orders have come in! We are to-- ndon the city and fallback to the South East Acornage fore-- epeat; We are to fall back to the Acornage Forest! The Changelings are about to cross the n--ern river to flank us! I repeat; We --ndoning the city and falling back to the South East forest! -r!”

I saw Jaume’s expression slowly fade away before swallowing and yelling out, “Listen up! New orders just came in! We’re to abandon the city and head for the forest! There’s no objections to this!”

“WHAT THE FUCK! ABANDONING THE CITY! ARE THEY FUCKING INSANE?!” Tuuli was fucking pissed.

“Calm the FUCK down Tuuli! FUCK, I didn’t make the call, but we won’t last a minute if we’re the only ones who stay! I’m just relaying the damn message.” Jaume said.

“Damn Changelings are going to burn the whole place to the ground…” I muttered.

“Listen, we can’t sit here anymore. We have to move out right now. Tuuli, don’t complain. There’s nothing you can do about it. Orders are orders. We’ll retake the city when we come back.” Jaume said.

“I pray to Celestial and Luna that anypony left inside makes it…” I heard somepony quietly say.

Tuuli didn’t really push it further besides saying, “If we can retake it…” And she said it very monotone with a flat expression.

Jaume let out a sight before yelling, “Ok! Get your shits and let’s get trottin’.”

Author's Note

reference for where the forest is based on HOI4